The advamntage of boxing is that it teaches punches in bunches from where your hands are, foot work and head movement is also a plus. But you don't want to get stuck at boxing range you need to be able to at least defense at the different ranges. Then practice to attack from the various ranges. A lot of boxer become inactive, or will duck to try body shots while in a clinch, which can be a bad move in the street or continuous sparring now days.

Add to that the fact that your training will involve lots of hard sparring,and the learning of footwork and sharp accurate punching and you have a very good foundation for self defense.

I'm not sure I did the quote right but Cord hit the nail on the head. The age thing is something you have to work out on your own. I boxed and kickboxed in my younger years. I'm 42 now and I don't care for the heavy contact as much. The guys are spar with now are pretty considerate about contact, it's a safety thing. We hall have jobs and don't need to be injured.

I guess the age thing doesn't matter as long as you keep up with training and stay healthy then you can keep on going at it. I mean look at Joe Lewis the guy can still do all that full contact kick boxing and karate another example is Dan Inosanto and the greatest example is Mas Oyama the guy was still going on after his 60's. So I guess it's a matter of how fit and hard your train and some good genes.

How many of us do this for a living full time and all the time. These Masters Oyama, Joe, Sargent and Dan do or did (In the case of Mstr O) this for a living even when I taught full time I had a side job that I used to support the business and my family until things smooth out.

If you could train and teach 24-7 U would and could stay in that kind of shape. But who can train that way, even as a dojo owner your accounting, book keeping, staff training and class lesson plans take up 3/4 of your time. So you still have to find time to workout at your level.

Travelling seminar Instructor is the way to Go.

As far as boxing being the only street effective olympic combat sport, id have to dissagree while boxing is great wrestling could also help with a situation on the street over 50% of street fights end up on the ground so knowing how to grapple may come in useful, you could even mix wrestling and boxing then have yourself some olympic street fighter or you could just take submission fighting or pankration classes and yes they pretty much cover everything about unarmed combat.

Boxing can be very effective on the street against the average street holigan. But it lack in range in a serious encounter vs. a harden street fighter or wrestler.

Boxing and wrestlering or MA is a good mixture, its my opinion that boxers & MA are better finishers then wrestlers, but it doesn't take a wrestler long to bc a finisher if he knows to practice it.

I'm sure he means the different fighting ranges. Standup,close in(clinch,grappling),and ground.

I keep struggling with comments in general about grappling and wrestling in a real fight situation. Personally I wouldn't want to be tangled up on the floor with an attacker trying to get him in a hold or a lock. What happens after that when you want to get up and escape? How can you prevent him from attacking again whilst you're trying to get up and make your escape? What happens if he's got friend's close by ready to step in? I'm not saying I don't think it's a good form of self defence but I just struggle to get my head around the thought of being on the floor on top of my attacker trying to get him into holds and locks. Maybe I'm getting hold of the wrong end of the stick.

I'd also agree that boxing and judo, both olympic sports, can be very useful tools in the street. My partner used his judo experience to keep a few lads from beating him and his mates outside a pubs a few years ago.

Chanters, i agree with you in a sense, no one wants to be rolling around on the floor fighting outside a pub, but on the other hand, no one should want to be stood slugging it out outside a pub either. Any form of fighting is far less preferable to a peaceful existence.
The point about ground work is that if some idiot attacks you, coming in hard and swinging, and you are still upright as his advance is stopped by getting up close to you, there is a strong chance that he will grab/push/clinch up with you. From here, as you attempt to push him away/free yourself, or he continues to try and overpower you, there is a strong possibility of you falling over. It does happen. Now its happened you want to get up, but he wont let you, what do you do?
Ground fighting is not about making a choice to be there, its about being able to cope when it happens, its also about becoming better at keeping your balance when people attempt to put you on the ground, so works to help keep you upright.
If there was real choice in a true SD situation, then there would be neither stand up or ground fighting, just a nice chat to diffuse the problem.